Matthew 8:28-34
Jesus
Drives The Demons Into Pigs
8:28
When He came to the other side into the country of
the Gadarenes, two men who were demon-possessed met
Him as they were coming out of the tombs. They were
so extremely violent that no one could pass by that
way.
29 And they cried out,
saying, "What business do we have with each other,
Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before
the time?"
30 Now there was a herd of
many swine feeding at a distance from them.
31 The demons began to
entreat Him, saying, "If You are going to cast us
out, send us into the herd of swine."
32 And He said to them,
"Go!" And they came out and went into the swine,
and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into
the sea and perished in the waters.
33 The herdsmen ran away,
and went to the city and reported everything,
including what had happened to the demoniacs.
34 And behold, the whole
city came out to meet Jesus; and when they saw Him,
they implored Him to leave their region.
This
is the Word of the Lord ... It is meant to change
the way that we think, and the way that we live.
Commentary
by Bob Pardue
Casting Out
Demons
Wikipedia describes a demon
as ...
"a supernatural being that
is generally described as a malevolent spirit. In
Christian terms demons are generally understood as
fallen angels, formerly of God. A demon is
frequently depicted as a force that may be conjured
and insecurely controlled."
These demons or fallen angels
joined forces with Satan when he rebelled against
God and their main function is to tempt
unsuspecting people into sin and
destruction.
Christ knew exactly who they
were and the evil spirits certainly knew Jesus and
even called by the name, "Son of God". They had no
power and met their match when He approached
them.
In verse 29 the demons did
recognize Jesus but had no intention of obeying
him. This is a difference between believing and
having faith.
We can believe in Christ but
we also have to accept, knowing what he did for us
and then act on that faith by attempting to follow
the commands he gave us.
No matter how much we
rationalize, Christ is the only one who can save us
from sin.
What About The Two Demon
Possessed Men?
These men were from
Gadarenes, a gentile city so were considered
unclean by the Jews. They were possessed and living
in a graveyard going strictly against Jewish law.
But, Jesus had no problem with helping them to
overcome their "illness".
What about us? Do we
sometimes walk away from people who need our help
because of who they are or what they look like?
It's easy to judge someone at first glance and
decide they are not worth the trouble or too far
gone to even bother.
Christ proved in this passage
that no one is beyond help and all are created by
God. Shouldn't we be willing to help one of God's
creations?
Please pray for the
lost.
-
Love in Christ
- Bob
If you have never made the
commitment to receive the love and life-changing
experience of Jesus Christ, please take a moment to
go
here and take the
first
steps to salvation.
Another
Bible Story For Living ...
Matthew
8:23-27
- Read the
story of how Jesus calms the storm and helps the
disciples have faith and hope during rocky times in
this Baptist study lesson from the New
Testament.
Verses showing how Jesus drove the demons
from pigs are from New American Standard
Bible
Comments are welcome. Please email
me with any questions or comments you
may have.
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